Darfur and southern Sudan Publications

As commemorations unfold honoring the 20th anniversary of the onset of Rwanda’s genocide and the 10th year after Darfur’s genocide was recognized, the rhetoric of commitment to the prevention of mass atrocities has never been stronger.

In Abyei, a small but strategically important disputed area on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, rising inter-communal tensions have resulted in a marked escalation in conflict in recent weeks.

Testimony of John Prendergast, Co-Founder of Enough Project, before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights, and International Organizations on U.S. policy on Sudan and South Sudan given on February 26, 2014.

Recent fighting in South Sudan -- marked by evident war crimes and crimes against humanity -- must be resolved through an inclusive peace process, according to an Enough Project field dispatch authored by Enough Co-Founder John Prendergast.

Over two dozen humanitarian organizations and NGOs have issued a joint appeal to Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Director of Office of Management and Budget Sylvia M. Burwell in advance of President Obama’s FY2015 Budget request to Congress, asking them to fulfill existing U.S. commitments in South Sudan and anticipate growing needs in the Central African Republic.

Escalating violence, displacement, and new political developments in the areas along Sudan’s periphery—Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile—are going largely unnoticed as international attention focuses on violence in South Sudan.

In this open memorandum we outline possible steps the U.S. could take in addition to what is presently being done, including the immediate deployment to Juba of U.S. Special Envoy Donald Booth, U.S. support for mediation efforts by South Sudanese church leaders or the East African regional organization IGAD (the Intergovernmental Authority on Development), and the creation of safe havens for civilians by the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Given the limits on access to rebel-held areas of Sudan’s Blue Nile state, there has been little information made public about the situation civilians face. In an effort to document the scope of their needs, an international non-governmental organization conducted a series of verification missions to rebel-held parts of the state in mid-2013. Due to security concerns, the organization wishes to remain anonymous. However, to raise awareness about the situation, they have requested the Enough Project make public their findings.

On October 31, 2013, residents of the contested Abyei region that lies between Sudan and South Sudan announced the results of a historic unilateral referendum to join South Sudan. This Enough Project report contextualizes the Ngok Dinka community's vote to join South Sudan and calls for the U.S. and the African Union to take immediate action to help determine Abyei’s final status.

A coalition of human rights groups, including the Enough Project, representing hundreds of thousands of supporters released a letter today to the Hotel Association of New York City, urging all of their 260 member hotels in the greater metro region to deny Sudanese President Bashir accommodations.

25 Sudan experts, human rights groups, and leading voices on genocide prevention, including George Clooney, Don Cheadle, John Prendergast and Omer Ismail, released an open letter addressed to President Obama, calling on the U.S. government to do everything possible to dissuade President Bashir from travelling to New York City for UN meetings.

Economic imperatives are now a major driving force for escalating violence in Darfur. Drawing on firsthand interviews with refugees on the Chadian border with Darfur, as well as many others inside Sudan, this report challenges the oversimplification of inter-tribal disputes and highlights the Sudanese government’s role and ongoing interest in the latest rounds of violence.

The Sudanese government’s campaign of repression against opposition groups in its Blue Nile state has developed into an armed conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and a coalition of rebel groups, the Sudan Revolutionary Forces. This report, based on visits to the front lines in central Blue Nile in late 2012 and early 2013, and details the current situation of the armed conflict there and its effect on the civilian population.